Team Ellie vs The Family Volkoff
by Sunshineali
Summary: Ch.3. Ellie uses the computer her father left her and becomes intersected. John Casey becomes her handler, while Devon reveals his true identity and takes baby Clara away from Ellie and the rest of Clara's family and friends that have come to love her.
1. Chapter 1

"Devon, NO, you can't do this. Please, don't do this!" Ellie desperately sobbed.

"It's too late Ellie, I've been biding my time, and waiting until you finally got pregnant. Now, I can finally take my daughter home. You'll get over us, just move on with your life, Ellie, but you must understand, Clara is mine, I'll do whatever it takes to keep her. Just move on Ellie, this is over. Be glad I'm allowing you to live."

Devon hurriedly took Clara away, handing her off to a waiting assistant and hopped into the limo as it sped away. He felt slightly bad. He'd bided his time with Ellie, gotten to know her, enjoyed her most of the time, and most importantly produced his precious Clara with her. Now, Clara's brain would be able to hold the intersect his family had so desperately coveted. This had been the only way to gain Stephen Bartowski's secret. He had to get Bartowski DNA one way or another and this was what he'd agreed to do for his father and the family Volkoff. His marriage was over and he knew Ellie would never accept his birthright. This was the only way it could go.

Ellie fell to the floor, gasping for air. Her life had just turned upside down. Her loving, sweet, gentle husband had just revealed to her that he was Devon Volkoff. He'd been waiting patiently as he'd infiltrated her life, with the only apparent goal being to impregnate her so she could have his child allowing him to finally bring little Clara home to his evil, controlling father and leave her and their marriage behind. Clara would now hold the key to the Bartowski genetic code and be able to hold the intersect her father had created that so far, only she and her brother, Chuck, could successfully carry.

Ellie willed her brain to flash and she was able to temporarily set aside her grief and focus on doing what her brain was telling her was her best option. She grabbed her purse and keys and ran for the only car that she knew would give her a tiny chance of catching up with Devon who'd now had a brief head-start. She jumped into the Crown Victoria, cranked the engine and sped away.

John Casey had spent the day in Castle, going over the recent intel he'd received from Beckman on his new asset and the prevailing threats that always came along with an intersect. Since Ellie had acquired the intersect, the past three months had been a whirlwind of massive proportions. Team Bartowski had grown with yet another intersect, causing himself and his partner to split the responsibility of "handling" their two, head strong charges. Chuck had adjusted well and proven himself to be the young, eager and intelligent spy that he was and Sarah was more than capable of working directly with him. After Casey's dealings with Bentley had concluded, he'd felt renewed with Sarah and Chuck and wasn't quite feeling like a third wheel any longer. That had all changed once Ellie intersected. Now, Casey found himself the primary handler of Ellie as she navigated the affects of the intersect and tried to manage her training and being a new mother all at the same time. This also meant he was the primary handler of Clara as well. Neither he nor Ellie seemed to have a moments rest. When he finally got home at night, he had no trouble falling asleep.

So far, Ellie's experiences with flashing and engaging the intersect were successful however, once she disengaged, she became dizzy and disoriented. On one recent intense flash, she'd actually passed out afterwards and had luckily fallen into Morgan's arms as he stood with Casey as she trained. Her brain reacted differently to the intersect than Chuck's, proving her to be more valuable in that she could control and flash at will and train under differing circumstances while fully intersected. This meant she could physically train with weaponry, martial arts, gymnastics and munitions at her whim.

John Casey and Morgan Grimes, who were now assigned to her exclusively, enjoyed the challenge of designing elaborate training routines for her, while at the same time trying to keep in mind that when she wasn't intersect operational, she was a nursing mother, who'd just recently given birth. Both men spent hours upon hours caring for baby Clara both at home and at Castle as they watched over Ellie.

Devon continued to work while Ellie spent her days with Casey. Devon had been trusted and had seemed to be on board with the fact that Casey and/or Morgan would remain with Ellie and Clara literally all the time, with their only time away from them being the six to eight hours they slept across the courtyard from them. For the immediate future, this is how it would be. She had not gone back to work yet, and now it appeared that she would not, at least for the time being.

Today, Casey had spent the day in Castle, changing Clara's diapers and placing her in the fully equipped nursery they'd built at Castle as Ellie trained on weights and with firearms. When Clara was napping and Ellie wasn't briefly resting, or breast feeding, she worked with Morgan on learning the various procedures and codes she would need in order to contact any of them at any given time. Morgan had been extremely patient with Ellie and had gotten her hooked up with a cell phone and wrist watch transmitter and GPS devices that would keep her safely located at all times. Her car and home had been fitted with alarms and necessities she would need whenever a situation arose and her handler, Casey, wasn't present. She'd spent hours with Chuck going over intersect diagnostics and had engaged in deep philosophical discussions with Chuck, Morgan, Sarah and Casey as to why she had to do this and why she had to think of it as her duty and service to her country.

Ellie frantically let the intersect drive for her. Her brain was able to process the high speed chase she was involved in while at the same time allowing her to multi-task and contact Casey. She knew the moment she entered his car he would be notified but she couldn't afford to wait for him to get out to the parking lot with her. And, he'd given her keys to his car for this exact reason. The intersect had propelled her to his car and had her pursuing Devon. Her cell connected into the blue tooth device in his car as she finally got hold of him.

"Ellie, what the hell are you doing!"

When Ellie intersected, she took on an almost robot like personality at times and spoke in a quick, clipped and efficient and non-emotional manner. Casey concentrated as he listened to her assessment of her predicament. He was surprised that she wasn't as monotone as she normally was and could pick up a slightly frantic tone from her.

"Clara has been taken. Devon is dirty and is Volkoff's son, I'm headed south on the 405 in pursuit of him. Please get to me quickly. I'm running scenarios hard and fast. It's never worked this fast before, John!"

"I'm on it. Are you dizzy or having any issues?"

"No, so far I'm hanging on. I'm just processing enormous amounts of intel, though. I've never felt it quite like this. I'm scared. Please hurry."

Casey processed what she was saying and immediately contacted Chuck and Sarah. Within minutes, he'd located her on his computer and was already prepping for a scrambled chopper to pick him up in the courtyard and get him to her. Sarah, Chuck and Morgan were already assembled in Castle informing Beckman of what had transpired and running operations for him.

Ellie had Devon's limousine in her sites and was now weighing the options of ditching Casey's car and jumping onto the roof or waiting for air back up from Casey that she knew would be coming soon. Since she had yet to make a choice, the intersect continued to feed her information and the pain in her head was increasing. She could feel the desperation creep in as she realized most of the intersect provided options would endanger Clara.

Beginning to feel the intersect start to disengage, she felt the telltale signs of light-headedness begin. She panicked and screamed for Casey who kept the channel open.

"JOHN, God, I can't hold on. I can see him, the bastard is right in front of me and I'm starting to get fuzzy. Oh God-"

"Pull over, Ellie, I'm in the air and I have your location, Just hang on and pull over. I'm coming." Casey was on edge and beginning to lose his calm. "Can't this thing go any faster," he yelled to the pilot.

"ETA in two minutes, Colonel."

He could now see the 405 below, looking like a diamond necklace glittering in the night. The pilot zeroed in on the Crown Vic's coordinates and set down on the side of the road causing the already congested freeway to come to a complete stop. Casey knew things were going to get rough soon. Ellie was going to either pass out or become nauseous as her brain disengaged from the intersect and he would have to make a choice of either staying with her as he'd sworn to do, or going after Devon in the hopes of recovering baby Clara.

Casey was torn and weighed his options. As he flung the door of the helicopter open, he was surprised when Ellie hopped in and physically grabbed the arm of the pilot and pulled him out of the pilot's seat. Before the stunned man could react, Ellie was at the controls and they were taking off. Knowing when to just let the intersect work, John motioned for the pilot to strap in the back and John took the copilots seat next to her and prepared for what was to come.

.


	2. Chapter 2

Ellie positioned the helicopter directly over Devon's limo as John prepared to jump out.

"No, this isn't right, wait, John!"

He watched her as she weighed their options.

"They're going to start shooting and that can't happen with Clara inside."

He knew she was right as she let out a painful sigh and backed off from the limo, deciding to follow it and see where it went. With just herself, John and the pilot, there wasn't much they could do that wouldn't endanger her daughter. Ellie felt her head start to ache again and called to the pilot.

"You'd better take over now. I'm starting to feel weird."

The pilot quickly traded seats with her and she flopped, defeatedly into the back seat of the chopper as John strapped her in and sat down next to her.

"Oh my God, what do we do, what do we do! John what do we do?" she was panting now and he could see a fine sheen of sweat across her brow.

"Take it easy, Ellie. We'll figure something out."

Ellie felt a wave of nausea roll over her and did as he said. She took deep breaths and felt herself start to calm. As the intersect disengaged, Ellie sobbed quietly in her seat and kept murmuring the same pained questions over and over.

"I can't believe this is happening, I've got to get her back. Why did he do this! Why..I don't understand?"

"He had everyone fooled, Ellie. Nobody saw this coming. Nothing like this showed up in any intel. We're going to do everything we can to get her back. You know that right?"

She nodded and closed her eyes as she tried to make sense of it.

As John watched her his thoughts drifted back to three months earlier when he admittedly was surprised that she'd intersected and even more surprised at how quickly Beckman had moved and gotten their new team in place.

Things had been a flurry of activity. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't deeply feel the loss of Clara himself. The tiny tot had grown on him these past few months. He'd spent so much time with her. Actually, as he thought it out, he'd been with Ellie and Clara more than Awesome had been these past few months. Now, upon closer examination, there were clues. Devon taking on extra shifts, Devon travelling to that medical conference in Georgia, Devon leaving in the middle of the night more often than in the past. He could see the pattern now, and if he weren't so busy and exhausted working with Ellie, he may have caught it sooner and that angered him. His fists clenched as he watched the young mother next to him.

Between himself and Morgan, they'd taken turns with Ellie and Clara. He'd just a day ago driven her and Clara to see the Pediatrician. She warned him first, to expect a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs and to not be caught off guard when people assumed he was the father. He figured most of the hospital people would know he wasn't Woodcomb, but she'd been right, the second they walked into the waiting room it had begun. The smiles the cooing, the receptionist handing him the clipboard and grinning, "She has your eyes."

It had actually affected him more than he cared to admit as he thought of Kathleen having to have gone through all of "this" alone. He also found his thoughts drifting to his lovely daughter as he gazed at Clara, held snug in his arms, soundly sleeping as her mother sat patiently next to him in the waiting room. He'd missed so much with Alex. He'd never held her when she'd woken in the night crying, he'd never seen her eyes shine up at him in wonderment and recognition, he'd missed her first steps, he'd missed it all and it deeply saddened him. Lately, he found himself forcing back the feeling that he was raising someone else's child as he went about his assignment.

Casey sighed heavily as the helicopter landed. Ellie stirred and then sat bolt upright and began crying as she saw Chuck, Sarah, Morgan and her Mother waiting for the chopper to land. As she stepped out of the chopper, her eyes landed on her brother who swooped in and held her as she sobbed. There was nothing for any of them to say as they got her down into Castle.

"I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know NOW!" General Beckman was yelling, and that never happened. The fact that she was losing her cool for all to witness would normally be interesting in its own right, but none of the assembled team members reacted as she slammed her hand down on her desk.

"That's it, I'm on my way out there and I want answers when I arrive, understood!" Heads nodded but no one rose from their seats, not even the dedicated Casey. The screen went blank and there was momentary silence. Frost was first to speak.

"Alexi mentioned his son several times, his name was Doevgeny but it never even crossed my mind that there was a connection. He even had photos of him in his study when he was a younger boy. Alexi told me they'd had some type of falling out after he graduated University."

"Maybe you should speak with Alexi?" Sarah offered. She was seated next to Chuck who remained silent as he watched his sister try to hang on, fighting off the oncoming headache that was the norm with her intersect burden. She had her head in her hands and was quietly listening as she released an occasional sob. Chuck watched his friends and family as they sat around the table each with expressions that ranged from stunned to deeply worried to anger.

Morgan stood and paced, dragging his hands through his shaggy hair. "Man, he was in this from way back. You two have been together for what, seven years? This sucks. We've got to get Clara back from that creep!"

Ellie put her head up. "Six and a half years. I met him in med school. He obviously knew about my Father and his work even back then."

"Alexi is evil, but I never thought he'd go to this extreme to get something he wanted. He'd kept Vivian out of things so I assumed Doevgeny would be kept away from it all as well. Oh, Baby, I'm so sorry you're having to go through this." Frost rose and stood behind Ellie's seat, rubbing her daughters shoulders and combing her fingers through her hair.

"Well, we've got to get a plan in place. What are we going to do? Sarah and I can fly to Volkoff's manor and try to get her."

"He'll be waiting for us, Chuck. This was so in your face, he knows there isn't much we can do without it endangering Clara."

Everyone sighed as Casey tossed out his suggestion. "What about the daughter, Vivian? Maybe we can get to her? Maybe if we send Chuck to talk with her-"

"We can't trust her. Didn't you hear, she's my new arch enemy," he groused, looking completely frustrated.

"Okay, what about some decoy to distract them all. You know, like a fire at the manor or a plane crash as a diversion or something like that?"

"I know he's going to have his people watching her twenty-four seven and a fire just puts her in danger. We're powerless here."

"I just want to open this intersect up on his worthless ass."

"Me too, Chuck. You and I both can give him a good dose."

"Yes! A double intersect, brother-sister smackdown. That would rock. And Sarah and Casey can go and the four of you, er, and Ms. Frost as well can invade the manor and unleash the hounds!"

Casey growled at the overeager Grimes. "There's no way we can get to him. We're going to have to wait it out and get him when he isn't expecting it. He's going to have to take her to the doctor for checkups."

"Casey, he IS a doctor," Sarah all but whined.

"So is Ellie, but we still took Clara to the Pediatrician."

"He probably has a staff set up at the manor. Plus even if he takes her off the grounds, we'll still be in the same shape as we are now. She could get hurt during an extraction," Chuck huffed. "He's really got us by the short-hairs, here."

Casey glanced over at Ellie and knew by the way she looked that it was time for her to rest. "Okay, Beckman will be here in a few hours and she's going to hit us up hard for a plan. Ellie, come with me." He stood and waited as she rose from her chair, and walked behind her taking her towards her room in Castle. Once they were inside, she turned to face him. She was shaking slightly.

"How's your headache?" he asked.

"It's there, but I really can't sleep right now, Casey."

"I know, just close your eyes and try to rest, okay?"

"Will you stay for a bit?"

She'd never asked anything like this before. What was he supposed to do, sing her a lullabye? But he figured he owed her this much if it would help her relax and hopefully sleep.

"Yeah, I'll stay until you fall asleep, then I've got to get back out there so we can come up with some kind of plan. You just rest, okay, we're going to need you at the ready once we figure out what to do."

He watched as her grey eyes, wet with unshed tears, desperately held onto his every word. "We'll get her back, Ellie, we'll get her."

"Thank you, John."

He nodded and lowered himself into the rocking chair they used when Ellie fed Clara or she was fussing and needed to be held. He stared at the empty crib across the room and then looked back at Ellie who was looking at the crib as well. As they averted their gaze from the crib and faced each other, the tears began to slide down her face, and he stood and walked over and sat on the edge of her bed as she sat upright. He opened his arms and she fell into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him as she buried her face in his chest and sobbed. She was suffering and needed some support and he was assigned to care for her every need, to care for Clara, to keep them safe and he still felt like he was somehow responsible for not figuring what Devon – Doevgeny was up to. Figured he'd have some commie name he inwardly groused.

Ellie had exhausted her tears and was clutching at his shoulders tiredly as he lowered her to the mattress and smoothed her hair back. He wiped her wet cheeks with his thumb and rose to sit back down in the rocker. She was out in seconds.


	3. Chapter 3

Diane Beckman tapped her foot on the floor as she looked at her assembled team, minus a still sleeping Ellie. When she heard what had happened to baby Clara, she was horrified. She knew all about the awful things people in her field did to each other in the name of acquiring "intelligence." However, kidnapping a newborn baby from her Mother was not one of them.

Upon her arrival, all interested parties had taken her aside privately at one point or another and had asked her permission to "deal" with Doevgeny once he was caught and they all emphasized not "if" he was caught, but rather "when" he was caught.

Frost was first. She'd planned on a simple, no frills execution with no one being the wiser. A bullet to his head wasn't good enough though. Sarah and Chuck surprisingly had suggested paying off Volkoff's staff and then letting Sarah get some alone time with just she, her many knives and the traitorous husband while Chuck "supervised." Sarah unknowingly fingered the blade she kept at her ankle the entire time the plan was presented.

She'd yet to hear from Ellie herself, but figured before Ellie even got close to Devon, he'd be dead. Even Morgan had suggested something involving ants, ketchup, gasoline and a hand held lighter. He really was an odd boy that one. But, she understood the need for violence and retribution that her team felt at such a cowardly and heinous act. She herself preferred poison and hoped she'd get to have a little fun with the hooligan before her team did.

They'd decided that they would have to wait it out and carefully watch everything that happened at the manor. They already had surveillance teams in place and they'd move as soon as Devon did. This seemed to be their only hope at the moment. They had other missions that needed their attention as well, but they all knew the moment anything happened with Clara, they'd move on it.

The others had reluctantly gone about their business for the day. Chuck, needing a distraction from his constant worry, had chosen to work upstairs at the Buy More, while Sarah immersed herself with monitoring the surveillance teams at Volkoff's manor. Morgan was currently sleeping in preparation for relieving Sarah in a few hours, while Casey had fallen asleep in the rocking chair in Ellie's room.

Beckman quietly opened the door and woke only Casey, letting the distraught Ellie have some peace before waking and reliving everything all over again. She motioned for him to meet her outside.

John raked his hands through his hair and sighed heavily as he joined her in the situation room. He was slightly dirty and was still wearing his clothes from the previous night but still stood ramrod straight at attention waiting for her next move.

"At ease, Colonel." She motioned for him to sit and stood to grab two mugs of coffee. "Cream?"

He nodded and watched as she prepared his mug. He could tell she was putout by the fact that Devon had struck so close to home.

"What happened?" she frustratingly sighed as she sat back down and took a sip of the steaming coffee.

"We never anticipated that Volkoff would have someone planted in the family that early. Devon did all the right things. He played the dunce with his "dude" routine and sat back and wormed his way in. Even when he discovered our presence and purpose he still played it straight. He acquiesced and rolled over most of the time. He was obviously waiting it out."

"I wonder if he even loved her or if that was all an act too."

"I assume he had some feelings for her, but what he did was shocking. He's a sociopath just like his father."

"Why now, why not let Ellie properly raise Clara. My God she's still breast-feeding and Clara is so young. Why couldn't he wait? What could he possibly do with a child so young!" She was frustrated and it felt good to vent in the trusted presence of her best agent.

"My best guess is that once Ellie intersected herself, he feared she might somehow discover his deception. With two powerful intersects in the family, he got spooked and decided to run for it now."

"Well, you hit the nail on the head. He's a sociopath just like Alexi. I don't know about you, Colonel, but I'm getting a bit tired of these maniacal idiots we've been dealing with lately."

"Yes, Ma'am, I'm right there with you."

"Well, for now, I think it's best that you keep Ellie busy. How is her training progressing?"

"She's exceptional, Ma'am."

The General didn't miss the compliment that Casey had just offered up. He wasn't a gusher and for him to use the word exceptional meant that Ellie was quite an asset to her country.

She watched him as he described the newest intersects progress. They'd tried, with Bentley and her team of failed intersects, to match the prowess that Chuck seemed to have and after finally giving up and accepting the fact that Chuck was the best they had, it had been quite the surprise to gain Ellie. She was as smart and talented as her brother but her intersect seemed to work differently. Now, with two working intersects they had a significant advantage.

"She's mastered most of the weaponry we've trained her with. She's in the best physical shape she could possibly be in. She runs at speeds comparable to an Olympic athlete. In fact, when she's running sprints, I can't even keep up with her. Morgan took her out for a distance run and rode a bike along side her she was that fast. The best that Chuck and I can tell is that her enhanced intersect pushes her to higher physical exertion levels."

She noted he looked almost proud as he continued.

"She does have her moments though, she gets these headaches and dizzy spells that we can't predict. We're still not sure why. They pass fairly quickly, but they still cause her discomfort and she needs supervision while intersected. She's not ready to work alone yet."

"Should we have our med team investigate this?"

"Well, Ma'am, she is a neurologist and she has performed several tests on herself with Chuck's assistance and she doesn't seem to be worried about any permanent damage. She's hoping it will subside as her brain adjusts over time."

"Keep a close eye on her, Colonel and let me know if anything changes."

"Of course, Ma'am."

"I'd like to see her privately, Colonel."

"Yes, Ma'am, Let me go check on her and let her know. She'll want to shower and change. Is that okay?"

"Yes, I'll wait in the situation room."

Casey walked away and entered Ellie's room. She was on her side and he leaned in and quietly called her name. He knew the moment she came awake she'd be in hell again and there wasn't anything he could do about it. She'd done everything he'd asked of her. Trained for hours on end and never once complained. She had a strength he'd never seen in a woman. He knew she was brilliant but now that they were a team, he could see that she was, in his opinion the perfect mix of intelligence, stamina and personality to carry the intersect. Her confidence never ebbed until yesterday and it infuriated him. He found himself stroking her hair as he gently roused her.

"Ellie, time to wake up."

Ellie stirred and as she opened her eyes, she seemed confused momentarily. He could see the emotion on her face as she came fully awake and realized Clara was still gone.

"Oh, god, it's not a dream is it?"

He looked down at the floor and sighed. "No."

He heard her let out a heavy and sorrowful sigh. "Well, I want to get her back. So what's the plan?"

"Beckman is here and she wants to see you. I told her you'd need a bit to-" He stopped, not wanting to insult her and make her think she didn't look good, because she did. "To change your clothes and get dressed."

She snorted, "I need a shower." She stood and headed for the door, then stopped abruptly. "I, I don't want to-"

He already knew what she was thinking. She didn't want to go back to her apartment. It would remind her of Devon's betrayal.

"You can use my shower. Come with me."


End file.
